Results round-up

Intertek Group reported on what it termed a solid year on Wednesday, though uncertainties in the global oil and gas markets forced the FTSE 100 firm into a statutory loss for the 2015 calendar year.

The inspection and certification company's adjusted revenue rose 3.5% to £2.17bn during the year. Adjusted operating profit increased 5.9% to £343.4m, with Intertek's adjusted operating margin improving by 40 basis points to 15.9%.

Intertek's adjusted profit before tax was £319.2m, up 6.3%, and its diluted earnings per share were 140.7p. On a statutory basis, however, the company made a loss before tax of £307.7m, with losses per share totalling 224.2p, which Intertek put down to a non-cash impairment during the year.

"Given the continuing challenging trading conditions in the global oil and gas industry, a non-cash impairment charge of £577m has been taken for past acquisitions in Industry Services to reflect these uncertainties, and is included in deriving the statutory results," Intertek's board said in a statement.

The firm's directors said they would put a final dividend of 35.3p per share to shareholders at the annual general meeting on 25 May 2016, taking the full year dividend to 52.3p, an increase of 6.5%.

ITV posted a rise in profit and revenue for 2015 thanks to a good performance in all parts of the business, and announced a special dividend but shares in the broadcaster slipped as it warned advertising revenue would be flat in the first quarter.

Profit rose to £641m from £605m as revenue increased 15% to £2.97bn and adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation grew 18% to £865m.

Adjusted earnings per share were up 20% to 16.5p.

The company saw 6% growth in net advertising revenue to £1.72bn, with total ITV revenue for ITV Studios up 33% to £1.24bn. Meanwhile, online, pay and interactive was up 23% to £188m.

In addition, ITV said it will be returning £400m to shareholders via a 10p per share special dividend as well as the 4.1p final dividend, which it said reflect the group’s strong cash generation and the board’s confidence in the business.

The company said advertising revenue in the first quarter of the year was likely to be flat but would pick up in the second quarter thanks to the European football championships.

For the full year, ITV expects to outperform its estimate of the TV advertising market.